Outstanding student realizes deferred dream
December 15th, 2006
Tracey Frazier and David Ensign, interim dean of the Brandeis School of Law.
Blindness didn’t stop Tracey Frazier from being a lawyer. The advice of others did.
It’s too difficult — set more realistic goals, they told her.
”I can’t wait to tell them they were wrong,” said Frazier, Brandeis School of Law outstanding fall semester graduate and student speaker at UofL’s winter Commencement.
“Except for the people who really loved me, every time I’d say anything about wanting to be a lawyer the whole world lined up to tell me I couldn’t do it,” she said. “My mistake was that I believed them.”
But only for a while.
After earning a bachelor’s in psychology from Bellarmine University, Frazier achieved success in the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, developing and overseeing prevention and intervention programs for youths and their families.
KiDD, a diversion program for first-time, underage DUI offenders, is among them. One of its most effective strategies is a visit to the emergency room and morgue where participants see firsthand the possible consequences of their actions.
“Simply stated, KiDD … would not exist if not for Tracey,” said Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze. “She and Susan Bowling with LMPD developed the curriculum, developed the partnerships needed, convinced the defense bar to participate and administered the program.”
More than 400 juveniles have completed KiDD to date. Their re-offense rate for any crime is low.
While KiDD and other programs Frazier has spearheaded have been successful, working with attorneys was a constant reminder that she wanted to be one.
Two conversations finally spurred her to action.
The first was with her mother, just before she died of cancer. Frazier asked if she had any regrets.
Her response? “Only things she wanted to try and didn’t,” Frazier said.
The second was with her boss. Frazier sought Maze’s opinion on her chances at law school, knowing she would get an honest answer. He had been an evening student, as she would be, so he knew exactly what she faced.
“I encouraged her to do so from the start,” Maze said. Having watched Frazier’s interest in the law grow over the years, he thought entering law school was the natural next step.
So she decided to go for it. After all, she reasoned, ”I can’t in good conscience look at my kids and say, ’Work hard, go for what you want and dream big,’ if I don’t do it myself.”
Frazier soon discovered that law school was as difficult as everyone claimed — but not due to her lack of vision.
”I don’t think my experience has been any different than what any other law student goes through,” she said. ”Well maybe because I’m older and can’t pull all-nighters.”
The university worked with Frazier to make her blindness a moot point in her studies. The Disabilities Resource Center, for example, helped her obtain study materials in electronic format that the software on her laptop converts to speech.
”They magically stayed ahead of the syllabus,” she said, noting that it meant professors had to prepare their handouts early for her.
But none refused.
“It was always, ‘How are we going to do this? What do you need from me?’ ” Frazier said.
Frazier’s next goal is to become a prosecutor. That’s the best way she believes she can serve the community.
And some day when her kids ask if she has regrets?
”I want to be able to look at them and say: ‘I made some mistakes and learned from those. I tried things that didn’t work.’
”But I want no ‘would’ve, could’ve, should’ves’ at the end.”
